An Ancient Evil Returns

Post#1: What Has Gone Before

22

JAN/13

An unlikely party of adventurers have joined together to solve the mystery of a sinister looking box captured when Jaryn was slain.

A thief named Fell, later discovered to be a Drow named Grim, acquired the box from those who slew Jaryn. He fled the city in the company of a Ranger named Durn Fifthwatch. They barely escaped after being inadvertently helped by the town guard. They were followed by a Paladin who also knew of the box, named Thadius. He was accompanied by a Zephyrmancer named Khermat, and a Samurai named Nagano. Immediately outside the city they befriended a Druid named Tye. Acting on information from Thadius’ guild, the party proceeded north to try and decypher the box.

On the road the party was ambushed by a group of kobolds. They defeated and pursued them, and found they had made a camp at a tomb in the wilderness led by giants. Here they were joined by a cleric named Karvos.
They found this to be The Tomb of Ahden Quaylen, an ancient Drow slain in ‘The Battle of the Sunlight’ in ‘478 ASQ.’

Soon after, the Druid Tye learned that local farmer’s cattle were being replaced with others which had been infected with some sickness. On the way they encountered a lair of trolls and slew them. Nagano became separated from the party.

They found their way to a local farmer and attempted to ambush those who were infecting cattle. The ambush failed, and they had to engage the party in the wilderness the following day.
In the battle, they decisively defeated the giants herding the cattle, but a female Drow (who they would later find was named Ayla) escaped through magic.
Immediately after the disappearence of the drow, the sinister looking box mysteriously disintegrated.

They followed a trail northward and reunited with Nagano, who had learned that a nearby village had been raided—and its inhabitants captured. The party followed the kidnappers to a mountain pass known as The Cat’s Cradle. The pass, stocked with monsters and heavily trapped, was designed to keep people out of the hidden valley beyond—which did not appear on any maps. The party made their way through Cat’s Cradle, although it seemed impossible that the giants and their captives could have found their way through it.

On the far side of Cat’s Cradle they found a ‘V’ shaped valley between two mountain ranges where the mountains joined to the south. They were able to pick up tracks heading southward which they believed were the captives from the village.

They soon found a stream of smoke which led them to a keep in the foothills of the mountains.